Immediate Family

About Barrett Dier Varnum

According to Middlesex County Records 1880, when Barrett Dier, 23, married Jane Anthony, 26 at Metcalfe, Middlesex County, Ont. (near Ottawa) Jan. 1, 1880 he was a farmer of Springfield, Ont., 15 miles S.E. of London. Jane was the daughter of Charles & Elizabeth Anthony of Metcalfe. The witnesses were William Anthony of Wyoming and Maggie Booth of Bothwell. By 1881 the census showed Jane Varnum, 25 and Irish and Barratt (sic)D. Varnum, 24 English living with the James Karr family in Warwick Township, Lambton County (near Watford). The age difference between Barrett and Jane seemed to have shrank. Much later, a photo taken of the couple and their two daughters Elizabeth and Florence playing croquet on a farm (posted on Geni) indicates the location is Waubuno. A post office opened there on Lot 13, Con. 2, Moore Township and one of postmasters was B. D. Varnum, Though the post office passed out with rural mail delivery, the church, school and community is still known as Waubuno. Later photos of the early 1900s seem to indicate the family eventually moved from the country to the city of Sarnia.